Monday, April 20, 2009

Its been too long....

Spring is such a busy time in the garden and the pressure was really on to get the plot dug and weeded, the potatoes and raspberries into the ground and seeds sown in the greenhouse.

Baby digger started at nursery this month and I have returned to work part time, so my time at home has been reduced by 2 & half days each week.When I took on plot 26A last year my dreams of growing masses more were (with hindsight) widely unrealistic. Althought I managed to clear a lot, the sight of the bind weed poking through and growing at 2cm a day made me finally decide to give up the extra plot and concentrate on my original one.

In consolation I’ve put in a request to the council for permission to erect a shed on my plot- bigger than the one I’ve just given up! I paid a (willing!) fellow plot holder to weed & dig over three beds for me, which made the spud planting much easier. (1 bed Mayan Gold, 1 bed Sarpo Mira and a few Charlottes)The raspberries (12x Autumn Bliss and 12x Tulameen) are in, as are the shallots, Broad Bean seedlings & seeds. The garlic planted last year finally seems to be growing and there are flowers on the blueberries and currant bushes!Last Wednesday afternoon I took Baby Digger to Merriments Garden to see the tulips and generally run around! We had tea alfresco in the sunshine and I only bought 2 plants for the garden. (Dicentra spectabilis and a pink Astilbe)

The next thing will be to get the carrots & parsnips sown, prick out the tomatoes and pot on and harden off the Brussel spouts & broccoli and plan where to put my new shed……

6 comments:

Pink Astilbes are very fine indeed. I'm heartened that your tomatoes are at about the same stage as mine - I was starting to feel tomato guilt. My brussels are only just germinating though ... they have taken forever this year!

Hi from Tasmania, Australia. I found your blog via Jane Perrone's book The Allotment Keeper's Handbook and have enjoyed a wonderful half hour with cuppa going through your posts. You have an awesome garden and allotment. Inspiring. This is my first season (Autumn here) to grow anything in my back yard. No allotments that I know of and the yard needs it. My raised garden beds go in soon. Up until now I have relied on my deck and a recently put in straw bale bed. Hope to follow your progress.

wow, we still haven't got our allotment so we've only one bed of potatoes how i'd love to have 3!

don't plant out the brassicas - ever, you know they'll only get eaten :( rabbits had all of ours (but the rabbits got mixy so they won't be back...) the reserves are out with rabbit proof fencing round them

we're quite lucky that we don't get bindweed but we are totally surrounded by nettles and spend the entire year fighting them off

p.s. sweet peas are in (i cheated and bought plants as i knew i'd never get round to sowing any..) about 50 of them i think